Ernst &Young Auditor Suspended Over Part Played in Botched 2004 Audit of AA Investors Management LLC

In a divided decision, the SEC has decided that suspending Ernst & Young auditor Wendy McNeeley from Commission practice for half a year for her conduct as manager of the audit of investment adviser AA Investors Management LLC and a related fund is appropriate. According to the agency, McNeeley and her engagement partner Gerard Oprin did not apply due professional care when assessing a $1.92 million related-party “tax loan” from client accounts to alleged fraudster John Orecchio, who co-owns AA Capital. She is also accused of choosing not to investigate further even after she encountered a number of red flags over a material transaction involving a related party.

The SEC filed its administrative proceedings against her and Oprin for not conducting the 2004 audit of AA Capital Equity Fund LLP and AA Capital, per generally accepted auditing standards. This alleged misconduct, contends the Commission, resulted in Ernst & Young putting out audit reports that were not properly qualified yet came with disclosures noting that they conformed to general accounting principles. McNeeley and Oprin are accused of not getting enough “competent evidential matter” or exercising the professional care required to their evaluation and disclosure of the loan to Orecchio. Instead, they allegedly depended on information from AA Capital’s chief financial officer that hadn’t been substantiated. Oprin was also accused of not properly supervising the audit.

While an administrative law judge would go on to dismiss the allegations facing Oprin, McNeeley was barred from appearing as an SEC accountant for a year. She appealed.

Now, the SEC is saying a six month-suspension is appropriate for McNeeley’s misconduct. (its Enforcement Division had sought a three-year suspension against her.) The Commission found that there were certain specific under these circumstances, including McNeeley’s inexperience and youth and the fact that her supervisor wasn’t in full compliance with his own auditing duties, that warranted she be given a sanction that was “more measured.”